best captions for our brett favre picture. >> "morning joe stoort -- starting right now." ♪ ♪ >> obama needs to immediately do something manly. maybe a one-arm pushup or carve a canoe or something. how about invade iraq. right now the president is

getting out playing. look what he wore saturday during an intense 90-minute conversation with vladimir putin. no tie, jeans with a casual shirt? what is this doomsday? on the other end, vladimir wearing a tiger suit. >> good morning, it is wednesday, march 5, ash wednesday. with us, sam stein. and willie. >> hello, mika. >> i feel like i never see you anymore. >> i know, ships passing in the night but here we are. >> but we did see each other very early in the morning. >> i commented that you have a

lovely skirt on. >> thank you, i love this skirt. >> i love this skirt. thank you, joe. are you dressed? extreme makeovers, "morning joe" edition right here. >> richard, how are you doing? >> wouldn't know. this thing called winter and snow. >> all right, let's get right to the ukraine. secretary of state john kerry is set to meet with his russian counterpart today to try and talk through mounting tensions in ukraine. yesterday secretary kerry visiting kiev bringing with him prayers for slain proeste estesd a $1 billion aid package. he responded to vladimir putin's perplexing news conference, saying military force remained an option but said no forces were occupying crimea.

>> he denied there were any troops occupying crimea. >> he really denied there were troops into crimea? >> yes, he did. >> it's clear russia has been working hard to create a pretext for being able to invade further. so today in another part of this country, we're in a new phase of the struggle for freedom and the united states reaffirms our commitment to ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. according to international law. condemn the russian federation's act of aggression and we have throughout this moment evidence of a great transformation and in that transformation, we will stand with the people of ukraine. >> a lot of really positive reviews, mika, of kerry.

>> peggy noone this morning of the wall street journal talks about how kerry is an indispensable voice on the global stage. >> doing exactly what we need our secretary of state to do. >> see said he's spoken out and been far more aggressive than he is predecessor and didn't measure every word for political reasons. >> the president tried to give vladimir putin some room and back off. >> there is a strong belief that russian's action is violating international law. president putin seems to have a different set of lawyers making a different set of interpretations but i don't think that's fooling anybody. >> during a standoff, russian soldiers fired warning shots at 200 unarmed ukrainian military personnel trying to enter their own air base. and then we have this going on

back in the u.s. the republican senator lindsey graham used twitter to speak out against the president's response to the crisis in ukraine. writing "it started with benghazi. when you kill americans and nobody respond, you invite this kind of aggression." republicans are very critical. >> a lot of people are critical about the president. in these international crises, the politics should end at the water's edge during dangerous times like now. i'm old fashioned enough to

believe that harshly criticizing the commander in chief during an international crises, that provides comfort to nation states who choose to be our enemies i believe that when george w. bush was president and today when barack obama was president. yesterday afternoon i talked about this quaint notion in the morning and i know richard haase believes with me on this quaint notion. yesterday "the washington post"'s david ignatius sat down and talked to bush and obama's secretary of defense bob gates who said this: "it seems to me that trying to speak with one voice, one american voice, has become a quaint thing of the past. i regret that enormously. and so do i. there's nothing more frightening to our enemy than a strong,

united voice. it's incumbent upon his political rivals to encourage him privately, not provide political broadsides in public. there's going to be a lot of time to do that during the political campaigns but for now washington leaders should measure their words a bit more carefully because, richard, not on is the whole world watching, vladimir putin is watching. do you agree with secretary gates and myself that you can disagree with the president of the united states, the commander in chief without going out making extreme political broadsides? >> absolutely. what makes it more relevant here, i may be in a minority, but i don't think vladimir putin had in his closet a 16-point plan for ukraine. i think he's improvising and making it up as he's going along, looking for opportunities, playing off what it is we say and do to the extent we say and do things that make ourselves look uncertain or

some disarray, it provides him incentive to test us some more. it would be quite useful, not simply, quote unquote, the right thing, it would be the right thing for us to have a fairly consistent voice right now. >> and when you look at whether it's a political opportunity being taken by republicans, this is going to be play out and there will be lots of opportunities to criticize the president if things doesn't go well. hold on to benghazi, which we can argue whether or not is even a parallel here but having said that,s that what they have in retrospect. right now is the time, isn't it, for them to take the political opportunity to be unified at a time of crisis. >> i generally agree with what joe said. >> what do you mean generally? >> 100% agree -- >> you always have to -- should we not come together as one? >> good lord. >> how many minutes are we into

this show? >> now eight. >> you have torn us asunder. it all began with benghazi. we either hang together or hang separately, sam. >> i think benghazi clearly jumped the curb. i think there's legitimate criticisms to make of the president. i think he totally misjudged putin. i have yet to hear or see or read an explanation as to why we haven't picked up on what was going to happen on crimea. that said, it's more productive to look forward and say how do we get out of the situation? there's this conception in the media that vladimir putin is playing chess and we're playing marbles. it haven't seen anything to say he has this grand design. >> by the way, angela merkel has said that. in his press conference yesterday, i believe "the

washington post" verifies that vladimir putin is isolated and he's whacked. he's a whack job. >> you look at what's happening in russia right now, the stock market is falling, the ruble is falling. there's a poll from the kremlin. it said 73% of russian surveyed, this is on monday -- >> willie, by the way, we were talking about this poll yesterday. >> well, i don't watch your show so -- his domestic political standing isn't that great right now so -- >> not only that, willie, but now the protests even in the eastern part of ukraine are turning against russia. >> i was going to say they're raising their own flag, not the russian flag in the eastern part of russia. there's an impulse for americans to see what did we have to do with this. isn't it possible that vladimir putin wasn't thinking about the weakness of barack obama when he

decided to go into crimea, to ukraine. >> i believe he's moving crimea was compensation, was face saving and gives him a bargaining chip so he can come back in the game for the rest of ukraine. this is less about ukraine than it is about russia. he wants to remain in power. he wants to so even if things in ukraine went off the rails, that he did enough. >> and you can also say -- we had this discussion yesterday what the president has done in syria certainly sends a message to leaders across the globe. calling him feckless, this, that -- >> there were things like

czechoslovakia, georgia. he has geography on his side. he is core strategic interest in some ways that have to be taken into account, which is why the administration is right to use this word, we have to be forceful but also give him a diplomatic offramp. >> former secretary of state hillary clinton is speaking out on the crisis in ukraine for the first time. buzzfeed is reporting clinton was asked about the situation at a fund-raiser, and according to harry saltzgaver of the "long beach gazette" -- and she talked

about how what putin is doing now is similar to what hitler did, providing the ethnic russians in the crimea region back to russia and that was destabilizing. this reporting has not been verified by nbc news yet so everybody's jumping in on the conversation. >> right. but i think people should read, leaders should read david ignatius "washington post" article this morning talking about scoop jackson and how he responded in 1980 to a similar crisis. and scoop jackson of course was a cold war hawk. he was the hawk's hawk. and he said in times like these you need to guard your words a bit more carefully. and i think comparing vladimir putin to adolph hitler or to what happened in 1937, 1938 --

>> i think it shows a lack of discipline. >> again, is a bit unfortunate and if she did say that, hillary is the neocon's neocon. >> keep in mind she was in the position of trying this reset with russia back in 2009. so if she is saying now he's comparable to adolph hitler circa 1938, it's sort of a condemnation of her own diplomacy. >> she's hardly the first politician over the week to use adolph hitler. she's not the first to say it. >> i'm curious about a point you made a minute ago, richard. didn't we know this was going to happen, like in sochi when we were watching things begin to unravel? wasn't everything that happened over the past several weeks exactly what we expected from punt and nothing less? >> you said this was going to happen. >> i thought it was predictable he was going to move against

crimea. the idea that he would feel compelled to, quote unquote do something, after, quote unquote, losing ukraine, he couldn't look like a political helpless giant because the consequences domestically would be dangerous for him. to me the real question now is does he decide to use this as a base and move forward? is he content with this? is he prepared to give it up? i think u.s. foreign policy has to work on all three lefss. can we get him to walk this back through diplomacy and pressure? if not, how do we respond to that and if he then decides to move beyond crimea, what's the policy we introduce for that? we have to have three foreign policies to deal with three potential futures. >> so you talked about the history, we all talked about the

history, and one more thing -- not to keep going back to this same ignatius op-ed -- that whether we believe that the president has done is true or not, secretary gates said vladimir putin is holding a great hand for the reason that richard said, just because of the geography. he was holding a strong hand regard lirks he was against george w. bush in 2008, he is against president obama in 2014, turning this into campaign slogans and bumper stickers, right now while the tanks are rolling. while we may see vladimir putin back on his heels the next couple of days if the tide continues to turn the way it, is that's something that we need to keep in mind as our politicians in washington are, again, deciding what words to use against the commander in chief. >> it's interesting how russia

is vulnerable to market, even though it's this large energy producer. the putins of the world can't, if you will, opt out of the consequences of globalization. >> coming up on "morning joe," congressman paul ryan been here to discuss president obama's new budget. also ari fleischer will join in the conversation. and coming up, she's going up against governor de blasio. >> it's a rough start. >> and "morning joe" packs its bags and goes to arkansas. kasie hunt is here --

>> kasie was -- >> i can't remember exactly what happened but, what. >> well, kasie has the piece there. >> that was sort of a delay by about 20 years but it's great. >> right. let's go to bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill. >> good morning, everyone. arkansas was a nasty place to be on the road yesterday. i-40 was closed for a while. even the national guard had to be called out to help some of the people of arkansas. the ground hog said we have one more week of winter left. looks like he's probably about right. 50% of the lower 48 still covered in snow, third greatest snow cover for this late in the winter season. and we have more snow this evening, between milwaukee and chicago, very slippery stuff out there, too. be careful, that's going to try to move right along the border of michigan, indiana and ohio this morning. and it cold in northern new

england, too. caribou is at minus 11. up through d.c., 41. it will begin to melt some of the 4 to 5 inches you got the other day. and in areas of the great lakes, you're going to stay winterish. for you in the d.c., this is your weekend, 55 on saturday. about time we're starting to head the right direction. you're watching "morning joe." ♪ ♪ as a business owner, i'm constantly putting out fires.

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way -- >> just leave it, okay? it's going to okay. i'll take care of you. i drive, you just sit there and look pretty, okay? >> from the papers, "washington post," it is calling the protests against the government, as president nicholas maduro asks for calm and peace. >> and another dramatic day in court for the murder trial of olympian oscar pistorius. the plan known as "blade runner" wept openly and covered his ears when he heard his girl friend's

autopsy report. they claim she may have mistaken the woman's screams for that of the olympian himself. >> and a boy is suspended from school after pointing his finger like a gun. the boy said he was playing around and his father thinks the punishment is too harsh. the school said there's a zero tolerance policy and students have been warned about pretend guns several times this year. >> and e-cigarettes ban will take effect 30 days after an ordinance is signed aftby mayor

garcetti. >> we like unfiltered -- >> chesterfields. >> and willie has somehow -- i don't know how he's done it, he went offer to sochi. willie smuggled in some old soviet era cigarettes. those things have a kick, don't they, willie? >> a little musty but they still work. >> they'll give you black lung in a couple of weeks. you smell bad for a couple days. >> doves is pulling the plug on one of its planned bill boards after it angered people in new jersey. >> why? >> this picture. the ad show as woman raising her right arm and says "dear new jersey, when people call you the armpit of america, take it as a compliment," sincerely, dove. i think it's funny.

she's so pretty. s so what's the problem? that's great. i like dove. they think outside the box. dove apologized after angry residents -- you know gail tippe tippett, our friend, she has the dove. >> let's go to willie geist now -- >> of jersey. careful. >> are you insulted? >> not by her. she seems fine. we don't like being called the armpit of america. >> why? >> unless you're on the turnpike. >> i love the turnpike. i had popeye's chicken on the turnpike. >> the vince lombardi stop? >> you know the vince lombardi

stop. i'm a popeye's fan, it's amazing. how do you know -- >> i've been there. >> let's go today for lunch. >> that was the strangest endorsement of new jersey we've ever had. there's a popeye's on the turnpike and the people are great. >> i love that he knew that was a vince lombardi stop. >> i'm excited about this piece, willie. >> let's go to our good friend kasie hunt, this week's morning joe state of play series sends kasie to arkansas. one of the most vulnerable democrats in the country has one of the strongest last names in the state. >> good morning. mark pryor is one of the last democrats standing in the deep south. he says he's one of the only voices of reason left in washington but congressman tom cotton wants to end up that, and he just might. this is tom cotton's family

farm. his parents still raise cattle on 200 acres in arkansas but cotton, a republican, traded trucks and tractors for the rancor of washington. and now he wants to trade his seat in the house for one in the senate. >> from arkansas, tom cotton. >> cotton is embraced by the tea party and the republican mainstream, a rare combination. the first term congressman is a rising star with an impressive resumé. just ask his mother. >> after harvard he gave up a great career to vol unteer for the army. >> reporter: but his opponent, mark pryor, thinks cotton is reaching too far, too fast. >> when i look at congressman cotton's record, i don't see where he's passed a bill, where he's really accomplished anything in the house. and he seems to have run for the

house just in order to run for the senate. >> so how do you view his two tours of duty in afghanistan and iraq in respect to that if. >> i have total respect for that, i appreciate that and i would never criticize anyone for that. >> but you don't see it as a qualification to run for the senate. >> no. in the senate we have all kinds of different people and folks that have come from all kinds of different backgrounds. i think that's part of this sense of entitlement that he gives off, almost like i served my country, therefore let me into the senate. that's not how it works in arkansas. >> reporter: cotton disagrees, saying his military service should matter to voters. >> i think some of the lessons i learned in the army and traits i learned in the army, we need more of it in d.c. >> some people think the president lied when he said if

you like your coverage, you can keep it. >> but pryor is punching back with a series of kitchen table ads. >> it says here cotton voted in congress to chang medicare into a voucher system. >> and cotton was the only member of the arkansas delegation to vote against the farm bill, which hasn't gone unnoticed in the arkansas state still he has oning about advantage over his democrat being opponent. >> president obama's unpopularity and disconnect from the state has been so enormous. >> pryor comes from a powerful political family. his father was governor and senator. >> how are your parents? >> they're just great. >> pryor said he's focused on getting arkansas working and protecting programs like for the seniors and the poor. >> for the vast majority all the

seniors have is medicare and social security. that's it. that's what they have. and i'm always going to protect that. >> president obama has yet to visit arkansas since taking office, and that seems to be just fine with mark pryor. >> i'm not going to invite anyone in from out of state to campaign for me. but if president obama did decide to come to arkansas, i would love to take him to rural arkansas to show him that a lot of the policies that you see coming out of the belt way just really don't make sense in rural america. >> pryor points out he's one of the most bipartisan members of congress and he did break with the president more than any other democratic senator last year, but it still might not be enough for him to hang on to his seat. >> kasie, another great report. we love this series. it is how much the president of the united states will play at the center, not just that race but races across the country

this fall. >> it really is. it's palpable when you're in the state. obama just elicits this reaction that is extraordinarily negative. there are bill boards around the state saying a vote for a democrat is a vote for obama and that's an enormous swing from a state where democrats have basically ruled the roost for almost a century. >> joe, part of her report that jumped out at both of us was when senator pryor mentioned a sense of entitlement for his military service. >> it was unbelievable. first of all, saying being in the military want a qualification for being a united states senator. i think most people would believe in these times of war we need more military men and women in congress and not less. for him to say a sense of entitlement, a guy that decided to go into the infantry after graduating from harvard? it's unbelievable. i also like when he said i would

like to take barack obama to the rural parts of arkansas. >> like where nobody is. >> drive to like three people and then keep driving all the way to texas or oklahoma. but, you know, that's a heck of a piece by kasie. this cotton guy looks pretty strong. >> it's a fascinating race. we've also got mike al i don't know standing by, the chief white house correspondent on politi politico. what's your take? >> good morning. and congressman cotton's parents always watch "morning joe." you talk to republicans in the senate and they're convinced that congressman cotton is going to be one of their fellow senators next year in this great online version of this piece. you point out he would be by far the youngest candidate if he wins.

if you went to a lab and tried to doo sign a candidate -- >> this guy looks great. >> double harvard, goes to iraq, comes back, fought hard and is tough. we'll see that toughness to get that house seat. he said in his announcement people accuse me of being a young man in a hurry. guilty as charged. >> how old is he, mike? >> 32. -- 36. >> 36 years old. >> what's his mom's name? >> i'm sorry his -- >> mike, i'm asking you, baby. you said his mom's name. what is his mom's name? >> avis is his mom, she trying harder. and len is his dad, farmers there and, tom, when he was running for congress, lived with them to save money. >> so kasie, that campaign commercial with -- where avis

comes in -- >> he could have been a military lawyer and chose to be innin n in infantry instead. >> and his parents were both life long democrats -- >> remember when you ran? >> yeah, my father said he was voting for the other guy. i had no money, no name, nobody knew who i was. i'll take 50%. >> senator pryor want saying the military service congressman cotton was insignificant. he's saying that alone should not qualify you to be senator. >> he is entitled, though, and those infantry guys. >> kasie, great piece.

thank you for bringing it to us. >> and we want to hear from you, which race should kasie cover next? we're sending her on the road. so tweet us. >> also this morning, we're looking at the washington lobbying operations. ukraine and washington both spending money -- >> the vince lombardi rest stop is between exits 18e and 18w. >> right there where mika likes to go. get your march brackets ready. he's going to tell you which teams to watch in this year's ncaa tournament when "morning joe" comes back. ♪ running down the dream

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with the stunts and loud explosions and all the muscles. [ as cosby ] i want to see the comedy programming with the children. [ british accent] watch bravo! yeah, i want to see "the real housewives." rewind! yeah! jimmy? it's been hours. we told you the x1 entertainment operating system show me "the tonight show starring jimmy fallon."

that's what i'm talking about right there. [ cheers and applause ] [ female announcer ] control your tv with your voice. the x1 entertainment operating system. only from xfinity. ♪ welcome back to "morning joe." espn college basketball analyst jay bilas, author of

"toughness," out in hard copy and paper back. >> out in paper back? "toughness" should be out in titanium. >> too flimsy for the title. >> this thing exploded. it's a new york city best seller. you said when you wrote it you had no idea what would become of it. >> i got responses all over the world from teachers, coaches, people in the military, you name it, and found out there was more of an appetite for that than i would have thoutght. i went out and researched it in other areas outside the sports. i think that's what made it, it resonates with people outside of of sports. it's about having the courage to do the right thing. >> i think you redefine toughness for a lot of people. it a great read. let's talk about hoops.

it's been kind of a wide open season. it's hard to tell the best team. florida, wichita state is fascinating. it's not a fluke. >> they're really good. they're 31-0. they're the first team in basketball history to win 30 games in a regular season. they've only won three games against the top 50. that's what got some people's underies in a bunch, you're going to give them a number one seed, oh, my god. they're tough, they're good, they're together, they have experienced players. they've got guys that understand sort of how to give to the team. but if people think they're going to go and play wichita state and anything's going to be easy, they're crazy because they're the real deal. >> what has happened to syracuse? >> this has not been jim boeheim's best offensive or defensive team. but for the first 25 games, they operated at an incredibly high level of efficiency. they made plays at a level far

above the way they normally played. their numbers aren't that different from last year. last year at the end of the season, georgetown blew them out. they lost games toward the end of the season, they couldn't score. georgetown held them to 35 points in washington, d.c. people were thinking it's over for syracuse. look at the final four. will that happen this year? i don't know. they have jeremy grant out, he's got a back issue, has not played much lately. trevor coony, their terrific shooter, has not been able to find shots. they're not a great offensive team. they're still dangerous but they have to get their mojo back a bit. >> you talked about one of my alma maters, florida gators. they're really good. >> billy donovan is a hall of fame coach. he's not a good coach, he's a great coach. they lost a lot from last year,

they've gone to the elite eight for a few years in a row. i think they have the best team. they have a point guard, scottie, who has been suspended once and he's come back and been an absolute rock. i think he's been the player of the year in the s.e.c. last time i saw him in person, they beat kentucky at rupp and that was in 2007 when they won their national championship. >> so a lot of people are going to be filling out their brackets in less than two weeks. give us a sleeper team, someone who can go back to the final four. >> i don't know about the final four but a team out of the horizon league is green bay. they have a guard named kiefer

sykes who shoots a ton of free throws and alec brown shoots a ton of threes. they're very, very good. they've got the player of the year in horizon, defensive player in alec brown and coach of the year. they beat virginia earlier in the year, which is a final four team that is very good. >> by the way, mike has his index. you've got your new jersey rest area index -- you say it's -- >> roy rogers staunts, you get a holster of fries. >> it's a great roy rogers in the area. >> i grew up on roy rogers. they have great chicken nuggets. >> so you have joyce killmer one, lombardi, two?

>> we're going to have a show after they do the final four. >> you sound look church's chicken short here. is that your final four? >> kfc with a bullet, though. that really works together. >> the colonel is the adolph of fried chicken. the colonel's best quote, i'm so drunk i can't taste it. >> go check out jay's book "toughness on and off the court."

>> coming up the ceo of deloitte, the world's largest professional services firm is here. he joins us next. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ >> here with us now, the ceo of deloitte, joe eccavaria. >> how many different versions do you get of your name? >> many. >> globalization may end up being putin's undoing. talk about how dependent russia is on the west but also how dependent the west is on russia. >> it's a fascinating question

and the answer is yes to both. the challenge will be how much of this rubs off on their economy. it was a big challenge before these activities in the ukraine took place. i think it's tough sled persian gulf. >> how is the russian economy most challenged? >> they rely an awful lot on imports and a lot on oil exports, given that the united states has become self-efficient. >> how much is the west hurt by a trade. who is hurt? london, paris, washington? who is hurt the most by an all-out trade war with russia? >> europe far more than the west in terms of the united states, by far. >> where is most of the russian money within europe? is it in london, paris? where does the russian money go, the money you could punish

russia by people not getting to their money. >> mostly the northern companies of europe, the u.k., netherlands, germany. that part of the economy. that is the much more powerful part of the economy today in europe. >> joe, here at home we're looking ahead to friday to the next jobs numbers. where do we stand at this point? and the argument the white house is going all out on the minimum wage, i'd love to know your insight on how that would help or hurt the economy. >> well, minimum wage, on a positive side, more people would be making more money. the negative side is the cbo is a bit uncertain as to whether or not there would be job losses. >> you've got your finger on the pulse of the economy because you have to. you look at so much of it. how is this economy doing right now? we've seen the unemployment number go down. a lot of people have stopped looking for jobs frankly. how is the country doing economically? >> i think it's doing well from

the standpoint of this is sort of the new abnormal. i think if you're going to grow two, two and a half, 3 and the president's forecast for next year is 3. it's going to bump along and until some things get -- there's a lot of pent-up demand and a lot of capital in the united states. >> so there's still a lot of capital ready to be invested. we have an energy revolution breaking our way, more jobs coming back, outsourcing ending and all this capital. it looks like the united states is lined up. if we dom some thin-- do some ts right, the united states is lined up to really have an economic renaissance, right? >> absolutely. if we just do a couple simple things -- we haven't had tax

reform since 1986. it was before the internet got invented. we don't have a system that's competitive. immigration, that's a challenge. we need stem workers in this country to free up manufacturing. you have a bipartisan budget proposed. proposed. we put aside the shutdowns and debt ceilings and all that debate came off the table. those are small victories. >> joe ecchevaria. >> you said that differently. >> well, that's how other people say. >> coming up, mayor de blasio under fire. we'll talk to charter school founder eva moskowitz straight ahead. we'll be right back.

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♪ ♪ >> were you yelling at me at that point? coming up at the top of the hour -- well, you have messed up. ari fleischer and david axelrod will join the discussion. and mike rogers will join us. don't go away, we'll be right back. i love this body and what it's capable of.

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♪ ♪ >> this happened on the 11:00 news on our abc affiliate in sarasota last night. anchor haley willis was going through the stories of the day and whoever was running the graphics at the station made a little mistake but it's okay because it earned them tonight's award for excellence in reporting. >> share this information with your family and friends so if you get a similar call. make sure to contact them.

pigs are reportedly running rampant. >> yes, t.j. is working for that show, too. >> i didn't know he was doing a little freelancing in florida. >> t.j., why would you do that, man? >> in florida, wherever, it's always my fault. >> it was a director who didn't like an anchor. >> i love you all. lighting. >> okay. welcome back to "morning joe." >> why do you like me, mika? >> you? i don't know. there's so much to like but. you're so adorable. like a little teddy bear. >> joining us, president of the

ari fleischer communications. like that, that rolls off the tongue and in chicago senior adviser to president obama, director of the university of chicago's institute of politics and msnbc contributor david axelrod. >> it's good to be there -- well, it's good to be here but i'd rather be there of course. >> exactly. >> we are assembling mike barnicle's index of the top rest areas along the jersey turnpike. >> he's decided to make that his assignment this morning? you get the bilas index and now the barnicle index. >> it's good that mike has something to do this morning. >> it's better than what he usually does. >> have a cinnabun. get an extra icing and drive

with that huge lump of sugar and fat in your stomach. the kids get it all over their hands and open the windows. >> you're making me hungry. >> we start with ukraine. secretary of state john kerry is set to meet with his russian counterpart today. yesterday kerry visited kiev bringing with him prayers for slain protesters and a $1 billion aid package. he paid tribute to the fallen at memorials on the streets. he also responded to president vladimir putin's perplexing news conference in which the russian president said military force remained an option but claimed no russian soldiers were occupying crimea. >> he denied there were any russian troops in crimea. >> he really denied there were troops in crimea? >> yes, he did. >> i think it is clear that russia has been working hard to

create a pretext for beingable to invade further. >> ari, i want to read you what peggy noonan writes this morning about john kerry. i agree with peggy. "john kerry made u.s. sympathies clear and didn't bluster. throughout this crisis, mr. kerry has been more impressive, he's the one journalist i've watched to get a sense of coming u.s. policy. kerry appears to be operating within a range of freedom his predecessor did not assume or dare. the white house needs him and could not afford to lose him. if that's what he's thinking, he's right. >> i think it's too soon to say. this thing should not be judged day to day like it. when you're in an international

crisis like this, what counts is how it comes out overtime. >> so you agree that republicans should not be tweeting on the hill comparing this to benghazi already. >> yeah. zurp there when democrats were calling george w. bush a liar and loser. . harpy reed called the president a liar and loser when he visited putin at a very critical time. it's do you agree? >> i said that all along. i didn't appreciate when people treated president bush like that. the person to blame here is vladimir putin. he's the one responsible, he's the one who did it. i think there is a case to be made that the president has -- it's a legitimate issue but it has to be discussed in the proper vain. >> let's discuss it in the

proper vain. david axelrod, you've been smiling and licking your chops. >> i just appreciated the taste and discretion with which ari inserted that into the conversation. but that's how you get to president of ari fleischer's strate strategy. >> exactly. you don't even see him coming. >> look, it's not a new development that in washington where people shoot first and solve problems later. and in the midst of a primary season, that gets intensified. i think when lindsay graham tweeted that tweet, he was thinking more of beaufort than benghazi. but it's not useful and it not

helpful at a time of national crisis when we should come together. what's interesting about the critics is they all say this is the president's fault, he's not acting with strength. and then when you say, well, what should he do? they say, well, we should be giving economic aid to ukraine, we should be isolating russia by working with our allies, we should be thinking about sanctions against their banking system and other kinds of economic steps that would hurt and all of those things are under way. so there's really not a dispute about what we should be doing now and i think the administration is doing what they have to. >> and of course nobody here is suggesting that they should have a strong, aggressive debate in time but i don't know about right now. it seems that a quaint voice, i

do circle back to '03, '04, '05, there are a lots of things i disagreed with george w. bush. you worked with george bush. republicans have to be careful not to become what they hated in '03, '04, '05 and '06. >> if they want to help, they should be supporting a large aid package and building a common front between the united states and germany and the rest of europe. >> where is the rest of europe? are we going to be the only ones staying away from sochi? are there going to be other people staying away from the g8? >> we're seeing -- i think the europeans will be good, hopefully, on the economic side -- >> will germany be good?

>> on that side where they're not going to be as good is the idea of putting pressure on the russia. >> why? >> they want diplomacy to solve this. they don't want this to fester. >> i understand the arguments you're making for merkel's government. i'm asking wheres at space between us and germany right now? >> i'm thinking it will be over the degree of sanctions, the depth and duration of sanctions. >> we've been talking about people critical of the president. let's bring in one of those people this morning, congressman mike richards. good morning. >> good morning. >> you said in a comment "putin is playing chess and i think we're playing marbles and i don't think it's even close." s is your opinion changed of this administration's handling of what's going on in ukraine

since you made that comment? >> well, i think what you're seeing now is a bubbling up on a frustration of a foreign policy that has been really hard to define in this administration. it seems disjointed. in some ways, like watching 5-year-olds play soccer. they all want to be where the ball sand it's more of a scrum than a soccer game. we're finding that here. they'll run to the problem and they don't do any of the work leading up to it. that's what's been so frustrating to those of us who take a national security reform policy different and are working with the president to try to solve of of these round -- right now putin has set the table in the crimea for negotiations the way he would like them to go.

and i think that puts us at a little bit of a disadvantage. you can't have the secretary announcing that we're going to do sanctions and the international community is going to support us in these sanctions and then have germany come out and say, no, we're really not for sanctions. it just weakens our position as we move forward. what i'd love to see is us all be on the same page about how we push back on what putin is clearly trying to do. >> i wonder why that might be difficult is not just political influences but the issue of wanting diplomacy to solve this as richard was talking about. what's the talk on capitol hill amongst you all as to whether or not it's questionable that that is possible with putin, given what we've seen in the recent past? >> i always think there's a place for diplomacy but it has

to be done from a position of strength, of leverage. we have frayed our relationship in europe with some of our key ally. poland, the cheks reeb. you have to have them as solid allies. that's been the frustration here is you can't just deal with the diplomacy of this issue today. this needed to be a lead-up to this event. >> okay. >> and what about the issue, mike, of missing intelligence, the issue of whether or not russian troops had actually invaded crimea? >> we're looking at this. i've ordered a review on the committee. but i don't really see and sense an intelligence failure up front. what i do see is two different analytical groups taking all of the check points of

intelligence, all of the indicators were there. two different agencies came to two different conclusions -- not wildly different, by the way. so there's a little space in there. we're going to go back and review it. why did this group of analysts say it wasn't going to happen, there wasn't going to be troop movement in the crimea in 24 hours and one saying it could. i do believe that there is some room for improvement here. >> chairman mike rogers, thank you so much. >> ari, we hear this time and time again. obviously we missed a lot of things in 1979 before the iranian revolution. you read woodward's amazing book, "commanders" i think it's called, george w. bush and his team were watching cnn and got better intel of what was happening in iraq than what they

got from crimea everybody assumes that you're the wizard of oz and you're seeing things that we don't. >> i think the public has a misunderstanding about what analysts can and cannot do. people can hide things and put things away, the united states doesn't assetstorying you can listen to the cia and get a certainty, they really haven't been briefed by the cia. i used to say that, that the last thing they would do now is reach a conclusion. everything is so guarded now. >> you're always trying to put together pieces of the puzzle. in a case like, there you would have certain warning indicators but at the end of the day, someone like a putin is going to have to literally pull the

trigger and make things happen. some things aren't knowable until they're under way so you're using your judgment is he likely to do certain things -- >> the answer is yes, though, isn't it? >> i would have thought yes. that's why you get likely behavior. >> david, i hate to ask to you predict the next move, what steps would the administration have to take here? >> obviously the economic precious. >> i heard mike rogers say we should have isn't stronger signals. i wasn't privilege to the 90-minute conversation president obama had with putin. i'm not privy to the conversations that john kerry is having with his counterpart over there but i suspect strong

signals were sent. now the president has to contemplate what the consequences of moving further would be, including the economy, which has already taken a huge hit, which is why his press conference was a little bit chaotic -- >> nutty. >> -- yesterday. >> europe has a deep integration with russia. they depend on russia for much of their energy. there's a lot of other economic interaction and that's why there's a he is tans on the part of the germans and others to go as farce as perhaps we would like to go. these are thengs that have to be worked out between the allies. so it's a kpli. >> all right, ari fleischer and david axelrod. thank you both for being on this show. >> and still ahead, congressman

ryan said president obama's new budget isn't serious, calling it a, quote, "campaign brochure." >> and she's at the center of the fight over the schools here in the city. eva moskowitz will join us on "morning joe." ♪ ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ you are here 11,000 strong. you are braving the cold to stand up for your rights and the senator is exactly right, this is the most important civic lesson you will learn because this is democracy and this is how you make your voice heard! and we are here today to tell you that we stand with you. you are not alone! we will save charter schools! >> wow.

willie geist, as you watch governor cuomo be a champion of charter schools, i am reminded of a scene in a classic movie involving another new york mayor when bill murray utters the words "dogs and cats." >> you're a cuomo guy now? >> we're all cuomo guys now. if we care about education and reforming the school system, where we pay more money per pupil in the united states of america than any country on the planet and we're not getting the results because of 30 years of status quo thinking, then, yes, we are all -- i can't believe i'm saying it. >> you can say it. it's okay. it's all right. >> joe's hives are breaking out. >> you need a little wipe. >> okay, hold on. i'm going to say this.

today we are all andrew cuomo fans. >> oh, my god! >> that's pretty amazing though, isn't it? >> he left no doubt. >> he left no doubt. i'm serious, god bless him for doing it. there are a lot of kids that need the education. >> joining us is eva moskowitz. eva runs three schools that new york city mayor bill de blasio is trying to block, close down. how are you doing this morning? >> i'm good. 11,000 parents marching for a great, free education is very inspiring. >> what about governor cuomo yesterday? we're having a little bit of fun with him because this guy doesn't usually go out on a limb, but he did yesterday and he did it passionately. i haven't seen andrew cuomo this way and thank god he did on an issue this porng to the most

disadvantaged kid. it was amazing to see him speak so passionately. and we did feel that we were alone. we have a mayor in the city of new york who says he's a progressive on the one hand but wants to deny poor kids in harlem an opportunity, a shot at life. >> what about the great irony that this is the guy and mika is a big supporter of bill de blasio's idea of pre-k. >> but what happens after they're 4? >> yeah. why do you stop supporting the most disadvantaged kids at 4? what good does it do if do you that till they're 4 and then shut school choices to their parents? >> look, this is the highest -- bill de blasio wants to shut down the highest performing school in the state of new york in math in fifth grade. >> say that again. >> the highest performing

school, harlem central, we've had these kids since kindergarten. they're amazing children. i was with them yesterday. he has announced that this school is closing down. >> bill de blasio, the mayor of new york, wants to shut down the highest performing school when it comes to math, who are fifth graders? >> it's not that he wants to. he did. he announced thursday afternoon that those kids would be educationally homeless. >> de blasio said this in the campaign, talking about she has to be stop being tolerated, abled. this is a personal, vindictive attack so the highest performing school in the state of new york in fifth grade math, and it's in harlem, is being shut down or is

it you have to get out of the city building you're in because you're not paying rent. the second question is what is the root between this seeming animosity between you and the mayor? do you know? >> look, he is evicting us in new york city and, in fact, across the state from buffalo to the south bronx, facilities is the name of the game. you cannot educate children if you do not have a building. and we are a public school and we think we have a right to either be in a building or get facilities funding, which we do not get. in terms of your second question, i can't really answer it. i believe we should teach toll lance. so for a mayoral candidate to say someone shouldn't be tolerated is a bit bizarre. his teams, the teacher's union,

and these are the anti-charter policies that have been pushed for the last decade or so. when we opened our first school in harlem on 108th street, the teacher's union opposed that. they have ued us now 18 times to stop us from opening. would you think in a city and a state and the nation that has an educational crisis of monumental proportions we would welcome alternatives that have high performance. but instead, a so-called progress of mayor -- and make no mistake, it is not progressive to disenfranchise poor minority kids who want a shot at the american dream. >> and the bigger question is why do you evict from the school the highest performing students in fifth grade? if it's working, build on that. >> in addition to that, the other point is the school is evicted, the kids are evicted,

what usage is the building put to? does it remain empty if. >> bill gates, the gates foundation, a lot of people have spent billion, how do you help students of color and all colors, how do you help them get a better education? we've seen failure after failure after failure so when you have the highest performing fifth grade class in math, is evicting them from a building when it's working really the solution because of personal animosity? this is outrageous. and i will say something else. it's immoral. it's immoral. and anybody that's been up to harlem and has seen what's happened up there with schools and some of the hope that some of these kids and families are getting would agree with me. willie, i'm not associating you

with my remarks at all but your mother has worked up there for a long time. s you've seen it, you've heard about it for a long time. >> not all schools are successful as yours. i think it's important to explain what a charter school even is because some people paint them as trying to put public schools out of business, as sort of this alternative. what is your vision of what charter school is? it's a public school at the end of the day. >> a chatter school is free from the bureaucracy. you have the freedom to get it right. it takes a lot of executional competence to get it right. in terms of cracking the code, that's what we set out to do, not only offer world class education but find a way to educate kids at a very, very high level on, you know, the public dollar alone. and we're self-sustaining on the public dollar alone by year three of our operation.

>> it is a public school? >> it is a public school. we are publicly funded, regulated and authorized. >> who are the teachers? >> they're traditionally certified teachers who are very talent talented. we do pay them 30% more than the district but they work harder. >> the day is longer? >> they day is longer. in terms of cracking the code, we train our teachers 13 weeks a year. we are essentially running a k-12 -- we would do pre-k if we were allowed to. we are essentially running a k-12 and teachers education school. >> and how do the parents get them into the school? >> it's a random lottery school.

for on 2,000 seats. and the hardest thing as a mother and as an educator to turn kids away. >> we all saw david guggenheim's extraordinary document showing how disheartened parents are when a lot of teachers union leaders literally work around the clock to shut the schoolhouse doors on some of the poorest and most disadvantaged children, not only in new york but in america. and i've got to say, i still don't understand why. >> they know that their children's futures will not be as good. that's the bigger issue. and the question of how do all kids get access to a good education, a good one that sets them off into a good path.

you have a situation in new york city where that doesn't happen across the board. unless there's a good idea. >> that's what we want. this is not just about success academy, we -- and china and india are leaps and bounds ahead of us. if we do not figure out who to do this, this country is not going to be the great country that it's been. >> if this goes through, do you have a contingency plan? >> i don't but we're not going to let them be evibd, we're not going to let them be sent back to failing schools. we love these children. we know them very personally, very well. i don't have a plan b because i was never expecting in my wildest dreams that the mayor of

the city of new york, a so-called progressive, would throw children in harlem out on the street. >> so why is he doing this? talk about cracking the code, it not tough to figure out that we're all in support of your successful charter schools and mika, of course, again very supportive of mayor de blasio. a lot of people here have been supportive of mayor de blasio but we really are flummoxed. why is he doing this? not to you, to your students. >> you know, i don't really have an explanation. it seems bad for kids, it seems bad politics. i don't really have an explanation. people have put forward there's some sort of personal thing, we served in the council together. it's not personal for me. he seems like a perfectly lovely person. i don't really have an explanation. >> he doesn't think the same of you for some reason.

>> it's personal for him. >> it's very personal for him. >> she has to stop being tolerated, enabled and supported. there is no way in hell that even moskowitz should get free rent. >> isn't it amazing he's talking about a political foe, who doesn't even consider him a political foe, instead of talking about the kids. they're not evicting her from her home. they're not hurting her children. they're hurting the most disadvantaged students in new york city who, by the way, are performing better in fifth grade math than students in scar dale, and he's throwing that down the drain. it's disgusting. >> i'm waiting for you to say "bless his heart." >> she's not southern. if she were southern, she'd say that. >> eva moskowitz, thank you.

bring some of the kids in. love to meet them. >> we're. >> i don't know if you've met bill karins or watched him but we -- -- >> we need to move in a different direction. that's often what you say. so we have the managing editor of the weather channel joining us. sam champion is going to come here and help us out. up next, new polls analyzing hillary clinton's image. how her latest numbers compare with 2008.

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sweet or kucutie. >> who told you that? >> i was apparently -- what's the word? making him feel uncomfortable. >> really? who told you that? >> some of your fans. i guess you have a fan club. i didn't know about it but i found out when i tweeted your chest hair. >> where's your mother? >> baltimore. >> let me ask you, because my mom is in pensacola, she wakes up like at 5:00 a.m. every morning. is your mom waking up at 5:30 to watch you? >> she is and she wants me to tell you something about the 8:00 hour. >> tell me off the air. >> i'm going to tell them, mom, i'm going to tell them. i know you're watching right now. >> it's the hour that i prepare for the most and it's the one that's most important to us. >> i was trying to explain to her on the treadmill yesterday.

>> let's leave that one till break. >> it's driving me crazy. paul ryan is joining us at 8:00 a.m. today. >> paul ryan is joining us at 8:30. >> you've got to not have food on you. i can't look at him. >> you new survey in pew research today finds hillary clinton has softened in a few years. she may be in a stronger position to run for president than she was in 2008. 50% of americans say they would like to see clinton run for president again, 43 would not. 69% describe her as tough, 56% say she's honest, and 49% say she has new ideas. and 57% of the voters disagree with the notion that thee he --

and how she handled her husband's affair -- they asked about this -- was viewed as largely positive. >> it's just not relevant. >> i've got an issue with. >> it's just not relevant to hillary. it's not relevant to hillary. >> is it relevant to hillary? >> no. >> no! >> so say yes. >> nobody cares. >> i care but i don't care as it pertains to hillary. >> about him, the president, present and his affair. >> and, by the way, they don't even hold it against him so why would they hold it against her? >> i don't think pew is asking any questions that she hasn't already investigated herself.

>> i think pew is being mysogynistic and being sexist asking about likability and her husband's affair, whether they're -- >> you interrupted and so the fan club is going to be very angry. >> mom, i got him on the fences. >> okay, thomas. what were you saying, sweetheart? >> don't call him sweetheart. it's condescending. >> he's a sweet boy. >> and that's condescending. his mother's watching. >> with that, look who we have next. >> penniel joseph will join us

with his new book on a civil rights leader. that's next. [announcer] welcome to the all-new intuit quickbooks.

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here with this now, history professor from tufts university and founding director for the center of race and democracy, pe peniel joseph, who is also the author of "stokely: a live." >> last time i was here you were stumped by my name. peniel comes from the bible and it literally means i have seen the face of god and i still live. >> that's beautiful. >> what did you think about the last time you were on the show?

>> i enjoyed the banter. >> i love your name, the love the origins of it. >> that's beautiful, really nice. >> you say in this book he really affected a generation of disaffected black youth to a mo more radicalized position. >> the more interesting aspect is the fact that he's from trinidad, he goes to one of new york city's best high schools, bronx sigh sense, before affirmative action he tests into bronx science, he friends with martin luther king, jr., but he's a day-to-day civil rights organizering, he's arrested 27 times between 1961 and '66.

he's friends with congressman john lewis, who was not a congressman at the time. he was 19 years old when he was arrested for the first time in mississippi. he becomes a revolutionary because of what he describes as raw terror. not just the segregation, but the violence that he sees and experiences himself. he makes the argument the only way people will get radical democracy, small "d" democracy, is through self-determination. >> one of the more interesting aspects -- there are many interesting aspects of his life, of stokely carmichael's life. one of the more interesting aspects is he is forgotten and almost diminished in terms of his leadership role in civil rights. we saw pictures with julian bond and his friendship with martin luther king jr. stokely carmichael at a specific moment in american history, the mid-'60s -- was really the first civil rights leader, in my opinion, who scared white people a bit. you know, he scared them.

and yet his vocal, vocal opposition to the war in vietnam tremendously on point, encouraged martin luther king jr. to step out a bit on vietnam himself, which was a huge epical event in the course of that war. >> that's one of stokely carmichael's legacies is speaking at a rally in 1966 at berkley, in california, and he connects black power to vietnam. he says that, you know, black power is connected to this human rights movement. and that vietnam is a racist war. before dr. king coming out against the war, before muhammad ali comes out, he comes out. he pays a court. fbi. and when we look at the freedom of information act, the state department, there's so many different intelligence agencies really trying to stop this guy. >> so remind us, about, and you explore this in the book, the it factor that stokely had. mike references a certain -- white folks are scared factor.

there was a political it factor that he combined that other people didn't have. >> absolutely. one of the things i argue in the book is he's black power's rock star. and what i mean bhi that is not to diminish or dismiss, but a real, real appeal to stokely carmichael. you could see from the cover, this is an impossibly handsome man, hugely charismatic, and also funny. so he combined so many different aspects that people of the time don't have. and he's the original founder of the black panther party in lawrence county, alabama, starts out as a political party and he becomes honorary prime minister of that party, which has uie newton, bobby seal, so he's onto cover of magazines -- >> and the last 30 years of his life, talk about t. >> he become s qwame tourre, an does it to honor two leaders. he becomes this really

revolutionary pan-africanist. he starts to criticize the u.s. in more robust way, anti-capitalism, anti-empeerialism. >> so let me ask you about your parents. your name, it's so beautiful. i have seen the face of god, and yet i live. how did your parents talk about coming up with your name? >> well, i'm the proud son of haitian immigrants who came to the united states in 1965. my mom is watching the show. hi, mom. >> what's her name? >> jermaine joseph. >> jermaine, did you a great job with your son. and it started out great with the name. >> until my older brother's name careth, he's a doctor outside of baltimore, careth is a brook in the old testament, and they came up with my name, you know, my dad was super into reading the bible, so was my mom. you know, pineal, and i was the baby of the family. >> i love it. >> she did a good job.

the book is "stokely, a life," thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. coming up, paul ryan weighs in on the latest budget plan. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. [ children yelling ] [ telephone rings ] [ shirley ] edward jones. this is shirley speaking. how may i help you? oh hey, neill, how are you? how was the trip? [ male announcer ] with nearly 7 million investors... [ shirley ] he's right here. hold on one sec. [ male announcer ] ...you'd expect us to have a highly skilled call center. kevin, neill holley's on line one. ok, great. [ male announcer ] and we do. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪

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up next, weighing the options in ukraine. richard haas on what the u.s.

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legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours. ♪ good morning. it's 8:00 on the east coast. 5:00 a.m. on the west coast, as you take a live look at new york city. back with us on set -- >> it's cold out there, mika. i want to be back on the west coast. >> i'm going to l.a. i'm going to call the people on the telephone. >> oh, my god. >> there's a story about that.

>> we have to tell it right now. >> no. >> so she's calling her driver -- >> his name is byron. nice guy. >> byron's a great guy. >> i love byron. >> she accidentally calls aaron -- >> aaron sorkin, and she says, hey, aaron, are you ready for me? and aaron was home after the oscar party. >> and he's, like, uh, what in. >> yeah, i'm ready. >> not, like, yeah, i'm ready. like, yeah. >> if i had a dime for every time that happens. >> yeah. >> these are, by the way, brzezinski problems. >> can you pull up front? he is, like, what are you talking about? he gave me his home number so we can book him. oh, my lord. awkward. >> adam sorkin. richard haas is here. >> boy, that one went off the tracks quickly. willie and richard.

>> let's get right to the ukraine. secretary of state john kerry is set to meet with his russian counterpart today to try and talk through mounting tensions in ukraine. yesterday, secretary kerry visited kiev, bringing with him prayers for slain protesters and a $1 billion aid package. he paid tribute to the fallen at memorials on the streets. kerry also responded to russian president vladimir putin perplexing news conference when which putin said military force remained an option, but claimed no russian soldiers were occupying crimea. >> he denied that there were any russian troops in crimea, occupying crimea. >> he really denied there were troops in crimea? >> yes, he did. >> i think that it is clear that russia has been working hard to create a pretext for being able to invade further. so today, in another part of this country, we're in a new phase of the struggle of freedom, and the united states

reaffirms our commitment to ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity according to international law. we condemn the russian federation's act of aggression, and we have throughout this moment an evidence of a great transformation taking place. and in that transformation, we will stand with the people of ukraine. >> a lot of really positive reviews, mika -- >> of kerry. >> -- of john kerry's performance. peggy noonan this morning in the "wall street journal" talks about how kerry right now is an indispensable voice for america on the global stage. >> doing exactly what we need our secretary of state to do. >> he really is. and she also said that he actually would speak out and has actually spoken out and been far more aggressive in his predecessor and didn't measure every word, let's say, for political reasons.

>> assertive and clear. meanwhile, in washington, the president tried to give putin room and save face and back off. >> there is a strong belief that russia's action is violating international law. i know president putin seems to have a different set of lawyers making a different set of interpretations. but i don't think that's fooling anybody. >> during a standoff, russian soldiers fired warning shots at 200 unarmed ukrainian military personnel trying to enter their own air base. and then, we have this going on back in the u.s. republican senator lindsey graham used twitter to speak out against the president's response to the crisis in ukraine. he wrote, quote, it started with benghazi. when you kill americans and nobody pays a price, you invite this type of aggression, #ukraine. there's a lot of criticism for the president. there is some that might believe

the secretary of the state is delivering the harsh words, but the president is trying to give them an off-ramp, and it might be the right way to go. >> yeah. >> republicans are very critical. >> well, a lot of people have been critical of the president. you know, yesterday, he talked about this quaint notion in politics that, you know, in these international crises that politics should really end at the water's edge during really dangerous times like now and international crises. that doesn't mean congress should be ubsequious on all matters, but of of the mind that hashly criticizing the president during citesies, whether it's saddam hussein or putin, and i believed that when george w. bush was president, and i believe that today when barack obama is president. yesterday afternoon, i talked about this quaint notion in the morning, and i know richard haass agrees with me on this quaint notion, but yesterday

afternoon, the "washington post" david ignatius sat down, and he talked to bush and obama secretary of defense bob gates, who said this. it seems to me that trying to speak with one voice, one american voice, has become a quaint thing of the past. that word again, quaint. i regret that enormously. and so do i, mika, because there's nothing more frightening to our enemies, to america's enemies than a strong unified american voice. and if a president of the united states isn't providing that publicly, and some could argue that he's not, it's incumbent on his rivals, political rivals, to encourage him privately not provide political broadsides in public when the tanks are rolling. there will be a lot of time to do that during the political campaigns. but for now, washington leaders should measure their words a bit more carefully. richard, not only is the whole world watching, vladimir putin especially is watching.

do you agree with secretary gates and myself that you can disagree with the president of the united states, the commander in chief, without going out making extreme political broadsides? >> absolutely. and what makes them more relevant here, i may be in a minority, but i don't think vladimir putin had in his closet a 16-point plan for ukraine. i think he's improvising. i think to some extent he's making it up as he goes along. he's playing off what it is we say and do. so the extent we say and do things that make ourselves look uncertain or disarray, it provides him incentive to test us more. so it actually would be quite useful, not simply quote/unquote the right then, but the smart thing for us to have a consistent voice right now. >> and sam stein, when you look at whether or not it's a political opportunity being taken by the republicans, this is going to play out, and there will be lots of opportunities in retrospect to criticize the president if things don't go

well. you know, hold onto benghazi, which we can argue whether or not is a parallel here. but having said that, that's what they have in retrospect right now is the time, isn't it, for them also to take the political opportunity to be unified at a time of crisis? >> yeah, i generally agree with what joe said. >> what do you mean general? >> 100% agree? >> you always have to -- you know, should we not -- >> should we have a unified force right here? >> should we not come together -- >> good lord, yeah. >> you have torn us asunder. >> it began with benghazi. as i was saying, you know, i think the benghazi clearly jumped the shark. it was absurd. i think there is legitimate criticisms of the president. i think he totally misjudged vladimir putin, and i think there's legitimate criticisms of our intelligence apparatus. i have yet to see or hear why we couldn't pick up on what was happening in crimea.

that said, it's more productive to look forward and, say, well, how do we get out of the situation. i'm struck by what you said, because there's this conception in the media that putin is playing chess and we're playing marbles. i haven't seen anything that would substantiate he has this grand design. it does seem like he's a little bit crazy, so to speak, and wonder what that portends for -- >> angela merkel has said that, and at his press conference yesterday, i believe the "washington post" verifies that putin is isolated and he's -- >> and so, you look at what's -- you look at what's happening in russia right now. the stock market is falling, the ruble is falling. there's actually a poll from the kremlin, and this hasn't gotten this much attention, the pollster came out with a study that says 73% of russians surveyed, on monday, opposed going into -- >> willie and i were talking about this all day yesterday. >> i don't watch the show so -- but his domestic political

standing isn't exactly that great right now. so i'm curious -- >> and not only that, willie. but now the protests even in the eastern part of ukraine are turning against russia. >> i was going to say, they're raising their own flag, not the russian flag in the eastern part of russia. there's this impulse, richard, for americans to see what we had to do with this, what the president had to do. isn't it possible that vladimir putin was not thinking about the weakness of barack obama when he decided to go into crimea, to step in ukraine? it's about him more than about us. >> 100%. when yanukovych fled the palace, what this constituted for putin was the real loss of bulk of ukraine. it was face saving. it gives him a bargaining chip so he gets back into the rest of ukraine. for him, the fall-back is he holds onto crimea. this is a way to save face. this is less about ukraine than it is about russia. he wants to remain in power. so he has got to show even if things in ukraine went off the

rails, he did enough to still protect core russian interests, and that's what this is about. so, you know, we can have our internal debates here, and you can do things better and different in foreign policy -- >> and you can also say we had this discussion yesterday that the president -- what the president has done in syria certainly sends a message to leaders across the globe. >> absolutely. >> calling him fekless or this, that -- >> yeah, the history, also. things like hungary, czechoslovakia, more recently georgia. >> afghanistan. >> he has geography on his side. these things are up against him. he is core strategic interests in some ways that have to be taken into account. which is why, and i think the administration is right to use this word, we want to be very forceful about what we ask, but give them a diplomatic off-ramp. >> coming up on "morning joe," the second installment of the morning joe states of play series. >> i love these. >> they're good. >> casey does a great job. >> gives us a sense of where

people are in the races around the country. we hear interesting points of view about what the word entitlement means. it's from arkansas, hotly contested race. plus, los angeles becomes the latest city to say no to e-cigarettes, citing health risks. but are the bans justified? also, we'll tell you why this bill board has new jersey residents up in arms. >> what? >> who wrote that? >> let's go to bill karins. >> i wanted to skip right over him. i want to go right to break. >> bill karins has a check on the forecast. >> just a little late showing the graphic, but no big deal. we'll get to me anyways. let's show you the forecast over the next week. for the great lakes, it's not pretty. yesterday, i told you 86% of the lakes were covered with ice. now, as of yesterday, 91% -- march is supposed to be about melting. we're adding to the ice and the snow. lower 48 54% of the country has snow or ice covering it.

ridiculous. we're getting more snow this morning. careful driving out in chicago. fluffy inch or two on the ground. and that's now sliding through northern indiana and right along the lakeshore there, right around toledo. also a lot of rain for you waking up from seattle to portland, and eventually later to san francisco. in the west, we have a rainy forecast, and a drought in some areas. we actually like that. we're slowly heading back to normal march weather. temperatures still very cold in the great lakes, though, and i tell you, if there's one city that's really still going to struggle to melt the snow, it's chicago. look at the weekend. highs still below freezing. you should be somewhere in the mid-40s. and there's that snow in chic o chicago. not too bad. just more on the annoying side. you're watching "morning joe." ♪ you're comfortable here,

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♪ all right. it's time now -- >> hold on a second. since t.j. has the shot -- >> not ready yet? >> trying to get my ear piece in. hold on, t.j. okay, you know what, t.j. put this on me in such a way -- >> just leave it. it's going to be okay, you're on tv. they'll take care of you. i drive, you just sit there and look pretty, okay? all right. from our parade of papers, the "washington post," congress has called venezuela's deadly crackdown on protester inexcusable. at least 18 people are dead and hundreds more injured since the protests against the government began last month. opposition leaders there are keeping up their protests,

defying president maduro. he asked for calm and peace during the carnivale season. today makes one year since the death of hugo chavez. some opposition leaders say they will scale back protests for today. >> it's unbelievable what's going on down there. "the chicago tribune," another dramatic day in court for the murder trial of oscar pistorius, and wept openly and covered his ears when he heard the autopsy reports. they claim she may have mistaken a woman's screams for that of the olympic athlete himself. day three of the trial is now under way. >> the "columbus dispatch" a fifth grader in ohio is suspended from school for three days after pointing his finger like a gun. the 10-year-old boy says he was playing around and his father thinks the punishment is too harsh. the principal says there is a zero tolerance policy, and students have been warned about pretend gun play multiple times

this year. this from "the l.a. times" l.a. city council is banning e-cigarettes in bars, not a smart move. restaurants, public spaces. not sure why. council members argue the electronic devices can attract young adults to smoking. the crackdown will take effect 30 days after the ordinance is signed by l.a. mayor eric garcia, who supports -- >> garcetti, yes. >> i'm not sure about that. >> i disagree with that. >> the e-cigarettes help people -- >> willie and i aren't going to go over to those. you know, we like unfiltered. >> yeah. >> chesterfields. >> chesterfields. actually, chesterfields, and willie has some -- i went over to sochi. willie actually smuggled in some old soviet era cigarettes. those things have a kick, don't they? >> yeah. a little musty, but they still work. >> all right. >> they still work. >> oh, my gosh. >> give you black lung in a couple of weeks.

>> i can't believe people still smoke. >> they do have a kick. >> "the star ledger." >> musty. >> dove -- dove is pulling the plug on one of its planned billboards after angering people in new jersey. >> why? >> okay. this picture. the ad shows a woman raising her right arm and says, dear new jersey, when people call you the armpit of america, take it as a compliment, sincerely dove. [ laughter ] i think it's funny. she's so pretty. what's the problem? >> that's a pretty armpit. >> i like dove. >> i've seen armpits. >> they think outside the box. dove apologized after angry residents -- you know gail tifrd, our friend, she has the dove people. she's awesome. anyhow, whatever. >> set to appear in july. >> let's go to willie geist now. >> please. >> willie. >> i'm from new jersey, careful now. >> are you insulted by that

woman and her armpit? >> not by her specifically. she seems fine. but we don't like being called the armpit of america. >> why? >> because we're not. it's a wonderful place. >> jersey is great. >> unless you're driving down the turnpike. >> i love the turnpike. >> that's where our industry is. >> turnpike is mazing, man, you go to the stops and -- >> what did i get? >> the molly pitcher. >> oh, no, popeye's chicken on the -- >> the vince lombardi stop? >> you know the vince lombardi stop. >> of course. the popeye's there, unbelievable. >> so good, the biscuits. i'm dead serious. i'm a popeye's fan. if you're on the jersey turnpike, i don't know the number, popeye's is amazing. how did you know that was the vince lombardi -- >> i've been there. >> let's go today for lunch. >> that was the strangest endorsement of new jersey we've ever had. there's a popeyes on the turnpike -- >> it's the garden state. >> the people are great. >> i love that he knew the vince lombardi -- >> i'm excited about this piece,

willie. >> yes. let's go to our political reporter, kacey hunt, the "state of play" series sends kasie to arkansas. has one of the strongest last names in the state. >> mark pryor is one of the last democrats standing in the deep south. he said he's the only one of voices of reason left. tom cotton wants to end all of that, and he just might. this is tom cotton's family farm. >> one more. >> reporter: his parents still raise cattle on 200 acres in yow county, arkansas, but he traded the trucks and tractors for the rancor of washington, and now he wants to trade his seat in the house for one in the senate. >> from arkansas, tom cotton. >> reporter: cotton is embraced by the tea party and the

republican mainstream, a rare combination. the first-term congressman is a rising star with an impressive resume. just ask his mother. >> after harvard, he gave up a great career to volunteer for the army. tom insisted on the infantry, just like his dad. >> reporter: but his opponent, two-term senator mark pryor, thinks cotton is reaching too far, too fast. >> when i look at congressman cotton's record, i don't see where he's passed a bill. i don't see where he's really accomplished anything in the house. and he seems to have run for the house just in order to run for the senate. >> reporter: so how do you view his two tours of duty in afghanistan and iraq in the context of that? >> i have total respect for that. i appreciate that. i will never criticize yin for serving our country, and i say thank you for that. >> reporter: you don't see it as a qualification to become u.s. senator? >> no, there's a lot of people in the senate that didn't serve in the military. in the senate, we have all kinds of different people, all kinds

of different folks from different backgrounds, and that's part of this sense of entitlement that he gives off, is that almost, like, i served my country, therefore let me to the senate. that's not how it works in arkansas. >> reporter: cotton disagrees saying his military service should matter to voters. >> and i think some of the lessons i learned in the army, some of the traits and the values that the army displays, we need more of in washington, d.c. >> some people say the president lied when he said if you like your plan you can keep it, just like mark pryor said, if you like your plan, you can keep it. >> reporter: health care has taken center stage with cotton linking pryor to the botched obamacare rollout. >> it says here cotton voted in congress to change medicare into a voucher system. >> reporter: and cotton was the only member of the arkansas delegation to vote against the farm bill, which hasn't gone unnoticed in this agricultural state. still, he has one big advantage over his democratic opponent. >> president obama has been the

biggest gift the republican party of arkansas could have ever asked for. his unpopularity, disconnect from the state has been so enormous. >> reporter: as a democrat, pryor is part of an endangered species in the south. but he comes from a powerful political family. his father was governor and senator. >> how are your parents? >> they're great. doing great. >> reporter: pryor says he's focused on getting washington working and protecting the federal programs that help seniors and the poor. >> we have over 500,000 people in our state that are 65 and over. for the vast majority of them, all they have -- all they have is medicare and social security. that's it. that's what they have. and i'm always going to protect that. >> reporter: president obama has yet to visit arkansas since taking office, and that seems to be just fine with mark pryor. >> i'm not going to invite anyone in from out of state to campaign for me. but if president obama did decide to come to arkansas, i would love to take him to rural arkansas to show him that a lot

of the policies that you see coming out of the beltway just really don't make sense in rural america. >> reporter: pryor points out that he's one of the most bipartisan members of congress, and he did break with the president more than any other democratic senator last year. but it still might -- excuse me, might not be enough for him to hang onto his seat. >> all right, kasie, thank you. he's calling president obama's latest budget proposal a campaign brochure. paul ryan joins us next. take a closer look at your fidelity green line and you'll see just how much it has to offer, especially if you're thinking of moving an old 401(k) to a fidelity ira. it gives you a wide range of investment options... and the free help you need to make sure your investments fit your goals -- and what you're really investing for.

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our budget is about choices, about our values. as a country, we have to make a decision if we're going to protect tax breaks for the wealthiest americans or make smart investments necessary to create jobs and grow our economy and expand opportunity for every american. >> all right. that's the president talking about his budget. joining us now from capitol hill is the chairman of the house budget committee, congressman paul ryan. paul, good to have you on the show. >> good morning, mika. >> so you've in essence called the president's budget a campaign statement. the front page of the "wall street journal" has the headline that says president scales back

budget goals, and that he had a budget that was absent of lofty new policy goals, acknowledging the limited ambition of both political parties to renew a fight over the budget with midterm elections looming. i mean, is that fair, what you said? >> yeah, i think it is fair, mika, because in prior budgets like last year, he had provisions in there which sort of gave the attempt he wanted to bridge the gap and work with republicans, try and get common ground. there's no illusions of that at all this year. he went farther to the left. he never proposed to ever balance the budget. he's adding about $8.3 trillion to the debt. $1.8 trillion tax increase. deep defense cuts. deep cuts to the military. but 63% spending increase overall, because of all of the new domestic spending. and so, that really isn't an attempt to bridge the gap and find common ground. he's just moving farther to the left. i see that more of an election year thing. >> or is it something to start with, and then you all negotiate? like, for example, you also say a divided government, we need

leadership and collaboration. where are you willing to collaborate on his list of proposals? >> that's my point, mika, which is last year he put provisions in there that looked like he wanted to bridge the gap and come together. he went farther to the left. he's not moving to the middle. he's not moving toward republicans. he's not offering common ground. he's moving farther to the left. >> is there anything in his budget you would be willing to talk about in order to perhaps -- >> yeah, we're willing to talk about -- we're willing to talk about a whole host of issues. when you look at a budget, you look at it in its totality. we think we should pay off the debt. the president doesn't agree with that. that's a big difference. we think the days of increasing taxes ought to be over, because we need to grow this economy. he's raised taxes $1.7 trillion, and now wants to raise another $1.8 trillion, and saying i want to cut defense a lot, a lot march than he's ever proposed for, not for reducing deficit but more domestic spending. we've had huge spending increases, so those are such nonstarters, i don't see how you

get common ground. granted, we're living under another budget agreement for now. but it's clear he's moving farther to the left to try and -- for those reasons and he's not trying to move to the middle. >> congressman, you said that three times, he's moved to the left, it's a nonstarter. does that mean i can't ask you about closing loopholes or -- >> yeah, sure, go ahead. >> are there any ways in which you all could maybe come to something and end up with one or two or three of these things and get some of the things that you want? >> yeah, so we just -- our chairman of the ways and means committee, dave camp, put out a specific discussion draft of tax reform, which does just that. it closes loopholes. instead of using the money for spending which increases the deficit -- he has $1.8 trillion in tax increases, half goes for spending. we're saying take the loophole closures and use it to lower tax rates to grow the economy. the bill that dave camp put out is estimated to create 1.8 million jobs, $1,300 per family for take home make.

that's the kind of economics we need. not raise taxes so washington can spend more. club loopholes so we can grow the economy so people and families can keep what they earn. there's a big difference on what to do. loopholes were there, but we want to give it back to the taxpayer to get our tax code in a competitive situation so we can create more jobs and make american businesses more competitive. he wants to plug loopholes to spend it. and we have a difference of opinion on that. >> sam? >> chairman, i want to look forward to your budget or the republican budget that's going to be coming out in the next couple of weeks. two questions for you. one is, you're talking about how the president took chained cpi off the table, the adjustment of how we measure social security. the first question is, are you going to include chained cpi in the budget? i know you haven't in the past. >> yeah, we haven't. >> sorry, go ahead. >> i didn't mean to cut you off. >> the second question i have, there's been a lot of attacks recently about medicare advantage cuts that were part of the affordable care act. i know in the previous budgets

you've included the cuts but you haven't used the money that it was saved to spend on obamacare. you've used it to reduce the deficit. are you going to do that again in your budget in light of all of the attacks that have come onto medicare advantage cuts? >> sure, a couple of things. chain cpi was the president's idea. we never included that. we thought there were better ways to go. it was never a policy we were enamored with. medicare advantage, we have put things in our budget to address the medicare problem. reserve funds to fix medicare advantage, and we've put some of that money from the medicare cuts that pay for obamacare back into the advantage care system. we've always believed in doing that. you take two years toth, and it's a double-digit cut to medicare advantage, which means high premiums for those folks, or just loss of benefits, or we're worried about withdrawing from communities. so i do believe you need to -- you need to fix the medicare advantage problem. and we have proposed that in the past budgets. so you'll see us address that in our budget like we have each of the last few years.

the thing that i worry about, though, i don't know who asked that question, is that sam -- >> that was me, sam. >> sam, yeah. so the thing i worry about is we're just going to do this. you know, this isn't bring this together, it's just this. look, we won't have a shutdown because we have a budget agreement and we finally have a number we agree to on appropriations. but what's disconcerting about this budget to me is we've got three years left of this administration, and they're moving farther to the left. they're not saying, let's come together and let's get at least a down payment on entitlements, on budget discipline, on closing the debt. they're going the other direction. it will be a long three years if we keep doing it this way. >> congressman, speaking of disconcerting, one of the things that's sort of disconcerting is when all talk about budget cuts is apparent among some people, you hear we have to cut medicare advantage, we have to go after food stamps, after medicaid itself. and what about the same enthusiasm for budget cuts when you look at pentagon programs

that have less to do with our daily national security than bloated programs for planes that will never fly and ships that will never float? >> god, i hope they float. that's mike barnicle, right? >> that sounds like barnicle. i'm pretty good with voices. meek, there's clear ways to the pentagon. if you read the defense board's plan, which says there's a lot of work you can do on the civilian side, on the contractor side, there's a lot of waste and inefficiency we can go after, that's not what they're doing here. what they're doing is reducing the army to a size we haven't seen since before world war i. they've taken 11 cruisers out of the fleet. they're doing so much, in my opinion, damage to our military posture. they're trying to reap a peace dividend when we don't have peace. focus on the waste, the inefficiency. they're not doing that. they're doing much, much more than that. big difference of opinion between us and them. on the other issues, let's

reform the programs. medicaid isn't working. doctors don't even want to take medicaid patients because they lose money. let's fix this. let's not keep pumping money into programs that aren't working. let's fix the programs so they deliver on the missions, they provide comprehensive health care to low-income people and it's health care that providers want to take. that's my problem with the status quo. it isn't working. >> i hope the problems don't keep both sides divided too much. congressman paul ryan, thank you so much for coming on the show. >> you bet. >> good luck. still ahead, it's been an absolutely brutal winter under bill karins' tenure. so we're going to make some changes around here. sometimes you just have to move in a new direction. we're going to see if we can get better forecasts with the sunny, fantastic, super original, most adorable, hardest working managing editor of the weather

channel, sam champion! look at him. he's perfect. come on out here, sam. come on. let's go. first, john travolta breaks his silence on the flub heard 'round the oscars. we'll tell you what he said next. iwe don't back down. we only know one direction: up so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this:

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adele dah-zeen. >> john travolta said, i've been beating myself up. and then, what would idina menzel say? she'd say, let -- menzel reportedly hugged john travolta after her performance, and elle degeneres pronounced it correctly twice. >> if he saw your name in a teleprompter, he'd have a heart attack. >> he would. a coronary right there. >> it's my dad's name. you know, first name. but i think he saw the -- i think sometimes in the prompter, something that makes perfect sense when your eyes see the letters -- >> you can skip a line -- >> yeah.

>> maybe he just decided to wing it and not go with the prompter. >> he knew her name. i feel so bad for him. i've been there so many times. >> there by the grace of god, right? >> oh, lordy. coming up, look who's giving -- >> is that mika's style page? >> mika, when you take over for me, you know, you have to get to know mika and joe. they're a little difficult to deal with. you get used to them a little bit. you just ignore them. >> i like the area. this is really nice. >> it's not bad. it's good. >> the weather channel's managing editor -- >> they're over there, far enough away. a buffer zone. >> oh, god. okay. to talk about his new role -- >> my jail term is almost over with here. >> keep it here on "morning joe." ♪ there must be some misunderstanding ♪ from. they flip the switch-- and the light comes on. it's our job to make sure that it does. using natural gas this power plant can produce enough energy for about 600,000 homes. generating electricity that's cleaner

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it doesn't rain much here in southern california, especially this year, but when it does, it's very important to rush inside immediately and turn on your local news. >> live pictures over sky 5 as the first of two major weather systems bringing rain -- >> the raindrops started falling a little over an hour ago and they haven't let up. a strong, steady rain. >> the line in the sand here is where high tide was most recently, and now you see the water coming um over that. >> more than two inches of rain could fall in the area by the end of the weekend. >> i can almost guarantee if you're watching channel 9 tonight you are wet outside. >> well, it was a rainy day, the sun is certainly out right now. trust me, i was standing out in the rain for several hours early

this morning. >> well, we trust you. and our thoughts are with you and your family. [ laughter ] >> pack your patience. and if you have to go out, please be careful. here with us now managing editor of the weather channel. >> a nice title. i like that. >> i know. it's amazing we got him. >> well -- >> yeah? >> it's a nice title, we crafted it, it's not amazing you got me. i was standing on the side of the street -- >> oh, no, you weren't. you know you were brought here to do the show, "am hq with sam champion." not sure when it airs. >> a lovely full-service morning show on the weather channel. i could describe what that would mean -- >> okay, i want to hear about the show. i want to hear about t but don't you think you were really brought here to do something else. >> what do you mean? >> like bill karins -- >> this was his first choice, obviously. and then, instead, he got three

hours, managing editor and get to play with the best meteorologists in the world. >> there is that. >> so you won't be there? >> where? >> oh! wow! >> walked into that one. [ laughter ] >> oh. >> "a.m. hq" it airs during our show, so i kind of don't want to talk about it. >> here's the deal. i feel like people will surf back and forth. >> you think? >> yeah. the one thing -- one thing we won't do, we won't do politics. we won't get heavy into that. what we found out from our audience on the weather channel is they come in, and they come in three or four times a morning to get the weather, and they really want the weather from us. but then they have to surf away to get news headlines, sports information, maybe some pop culture, so they're fully formed and ready to go at the end of the day. i don't want them to surf for that stuff. i would love for them to surf politics, so i would say come here and get that. >> you won't go head to head with mayor de blasio on twitter? >> i might not -- look, when people don't handle situations the way i think they should in

weather warnings, i would rather go in there and help them figure it out, you know what i mean? i'd rather go in and say, look, this will help you. this will help you the next time you have a storm in your area, in your town. what -- >> i just a picture of you, i'm going to tweet it. >> okay. >> if you talk three years ago and you asked anyone in the country, who are the two most well-known weather people, most popular, it would have been sam champion and al roker. >> absolutely. >> and now, all of a sudden, the weather channel has this dream team weather team, they start in the mornings with al, and then sam, and then still kept all the of the greats with seidel, abrams, bettes, cantore. and it's going to be nuts. >> it is. i think it's the world's perfect place for weather. and i love being there, and these people are great what they do, and we'll do more of it. a lot of people who were weather channel viewers, me included, didn't like it when the channel went away from weather. i didn't understand why i would turn on the weather channel and

see leonardo dicaprio on the front of the boat holding kate win winslet. so we'll have original programming at night, but we're doing weather all day. >> are you worried with cantore -- >> he is a strong, strong man. >> what is that kid thinking? it happened on our air. we're watching-- i'm sitting here watching this, and, this is a crazy kid. >> sam. >> you don't want to mess -- >> don't walk up to cantore. >> what's your craziest story? anything? >> one of my first live shots in central park for wabc new york, a gorgeous live shot, and i had a mostly naked man, a little bit crazy, i believe. >> oh. >> run up from behind me -- >> like barnicle like kind of crazy in the mornings? >> no. much longer hair. >> okay. >> much longer hair. >> you had to think -- >> he was in drag that night. >> when you were at wabc, wasn't that the greatest job? >> it was a great job.

>> and the reporters are the best in, like, i'm ever seen. no, a local station, it's damn good. like, they don't fall for the crap news as much as other local stations. >> see, i feel like i'm being -- i feel like i'm being reeled in now. because you're giving me -- you're giving me this endearing serious look, and now i've learned in 35 seconds not to trust it. >> oh, really? [ laughter ] >> that's the look. that's the one. >> i met martin short the other night at the thing, and he said, you're a sly one. >> you are. >> you're a sly one. >> yeah. >> nuanced. a lot of people are wondering why you step off the number-one show at the pinnacle of a type to take on a new challenge, move to atlanta? what was behind that in. >> i like projects, and i love tv. and i felt like we had done what we wanted to do with "gma," and here was, you know, number one, it will be number one for a while. they really got their stride. it's a great team. and here was a place that said, we want to create something, and

i'm a weather guy. i mean, in my heart, that's what i love to do. >> i have a great day. "a.m. hq" can we -- sorry, bill. can you and bill simulcast together? >> synergy. >> i offered him a job. >> you're getting replaced. >> i asked to do the news, but they were looking for somebody else. >> no, we would take you. >> you would? >> we would. ♪ i'm meteorologist bill karins. not a lot of snow to talk about. a little bit. some has fallen overnight from minneapolis to chicago, up towards milwaukee. be careful driving in the lower portion of the great lakes. otherwise, still kind of chilly in the southeast, but a lot better than yesterday. new orleans today 58 degrees with some rain.

florida, one of the warmer spots on the map with a chance of thunderstorms in orlando. have great day. a small business credit card with amazing rewards. with the spark cash card from capital one, i get 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. i break my back around here. finally someone's recognizing me with unlimited rewards! meetings start at 11, cindy. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one. choose 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? i need your timesheets, larry! or how ornate the halls are. tall the building is, it doesn't matter if there are granite statues, or big mahogany desks. when working with an investment firm, what's really important is whether the people behind the desks actually stand behind what they say. introducing the schwab accountability guarantee. if you're not happy with one of our participating

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time to talk about what we learned today. >> oh, yeah, hey. >> it's ash wednesday, so don't forget to get your ashss, mike. >> yeah. not really my thing. >> i didn't look at you. >> sam, what did you learn? >> i learned in lindsey graham's world, everything originates with #benghazi. >> thomas? >> that obama's budget will face opposition on the right, as we heard from paul ryan. >> oh, yeah. >> and mom is a loyal viewer. >> great insights. our 8:00 hour. hope you enjoyed the interview with paul ryan. barnicle index. the top five rest areas on the new jersey turnpike. >> brook. unfortunately, for those fans of the vince lombardi, new jersey turn pike, no. number two, number two, clara barton. the number one, the number one,

remains number one, the molly pitcher roadside. dick clark's grill, roy bucks. >> boy. that's murderer's row. >> yeah. what about the one now? >> we're all going there. >> it's way too early, so "morning joe." >> "the daily rundown." >> chuck todd, "the daily rundown." >> bye-bye. >> bye-bye. ♪ the offramp may be approaching as vladimir putin appears to soften his stance. secretary kerry tries to steer the ukraine cries toys a resolution on the ground. texas takeaways. democrats like the top of their ticket, but there may be a catch as republicans find the oldest member in congress facing a runoff, and next generation bush on the path to statewide office. plus, as new poll numbers again show rising support for same-sex marriage, a kentucky legal case fight gets emotional. we'll talk to the state's attorney general, jack conway.